Friday, August 17, 2012

Non-metallic
Comb Dagger Discovered With Body Scanner – A passenger at Portland (PDX) alarmed the body
scanner and during the pat-down, a simple everyday ordinary black plastic comb
was found in his pocket. No big deal, right? People forget to take things out
of their pocket all the time… Wrong. After closer inspection, it was learned
that the comb pulled apart to reveal a dagger. (See picture)

Items
in the Strangest Places
– It’s one thing to forget you had a prohibited item in your bag, but when you
intentionally try to sneak it past us, you could be cited or even arrested by
law enforcement. Here are a few examples from this week where passengers tried
to sneak items past our Officers.

Three-7” throwing knives were
discovered concealed in the lining of a bag under the handle at Lihue-Honolulu
(LIH).

A pocket knife was found concealed
inside a pill bottle at Huntsville (HSV).

An 18” sword was discovered concealed
in a walking cane at Las Vegas (LAS).

Four belt buckle knives were
discovered this week at Portland (PDX), San Jose (SJC), Seattle (SEA), and Las
Vegas (LAS).

Inert
Grenades Etc. – In
addition to a spike in the number of guns found each day at checkpoints, we
continue to find hand grenades and other weaponry on weekly basis. Please
keep in mind that if something looks like a bomb, grenade, mine, etc., it is
prohibited - real or not. When these items are found at a checkpoint, they can
cause significant delays to you and other passengers. I know they are cool
novelty items, but again, please do not take them on planes! Read here and here on why inert
items cause problems.

An inert
grenade was discovered at Huntsville (HSV) in a passenger’s carry-on bag. The
grenade belonged to a minor who had packed the grenade without his parent’s
knowledge. It might be a good plan to check your children’s luggage before
getting to the airport.

An inert
M60 grenade was turned over to an Officer prior to screening at Las Vegas (LAS).

A
hollowed out detonator was discovered at Denver (DEN).

Ammo! – If properly packed, ammunition
can be placed in your checked luggage, but it’s always a no-go in your carry
on. 258 rounds of .22 caliber ammunition were detected in a carry-on bag at
Long Beach (LGB), and 50 rounds of .25 caliber ammunition were discovered in a
carry-on bag at LaGuardia (LGA). From TSA.gov – “Travelers
must securely pack any ammunition in fiber (such as cardboard), wood or metal
boxes or other packaging specifically designed to carry small amounts of
ammunition. Firearm magazines and ammunition clips must be securely boxed or
included within a hard-sided case containing an unloaded firearm. Small arms
ammunition, including ammunition not exceeding .75 caliber for a rifle or
pistol and shotgun shells of any gauge, may be carried in the same hard-sided
case as the firearm, as long as it follows the packing guidelines described
above. TSA prohibits black powder or percussion caps used with black-powder.”

Miscellaneous
Prohibited Items -
In addition to all of the other prohibited items we find weekly, our Officers
also regularly find firearm components, realistic replica firearms, brass
knuckles, ammunition, batons, and a lot of sharp pointy things. Just to mention
a few…

Firearms
- Here are the
firearms our Officers found in carry-on baggage since I posted last Friday.

So TSA found one item with the 100's of Whole Body Strip Search Machines, machines that cost around $200,000 each plus very expensive installation and maitnenace costs. One item. How much did it cost to find this one item TSA?

Let us keep in mind that by TSA's on numbers there were about 12.5 million travelers this week and the Strip Search Machines found one item.

The cost is not justified given that even with a knife the airplanes cockpit is secure.

".. In addition to a spike in the number of guns found each day at checkpoints"

I don't see the same spike in the data you are.... are we looking at the same data?

By your own report the number of guns found this week is 30. The same as last week. The average number of guns you have reported finding every week since you started reporting finding guns.

Kudos for finding the comb-knife with the Body Scanners. That beauty only cost one-hundred and sixty-thousand dollars of tax-payer monies to find. The Walk-Through-Metal-Detectors could have found it for thirty-seven dollars.

I'm sure glad you stopped the guy with the comb knife. It makes the millions of tax dollars spent on the body scanners worth it. I hope he was sent to Guantanamo without trial on terrorism charges. He could have mildly wounded one or two passengers with that knife before being brutally and mercilessly beaten by the other passengers.

Congratulations for the body scanner finding something other than drugs or toothpaste. Did a regular TSA screener discover the comb knife or did one of the BDO's find it by examining the passenger's facial expressions?

Yesterday I had the most ridiculous experience with a TSA officer. I went through a body scanner wearing a cloth belt with plastic buckle. I have worn this through countless body scanners without it being a problem. Most of the time I am probably wearing my shirt not tucked in so the officers never see the belt. Well yesterday as I was exiting the scanner the officer saw the belt and said I needed to remove it. I explained it was a cloth belt with a plastic buckle so it shouldn't have interfered with the scan. She said it didn't matter and that I needed to remove it. So I removed the belt handed it to her and she handed it back to me two seconds later, I was never even placed through the scanner again. Every piece of TSA documentation I could find states that they RECOMMEND removal of belts so that additional screening may not be required if the belt interferes with the scan. If the belt doesn't interfere with the scan, why does it need to be removed? The officer who had me remove the belt seemingly didn't even understand why passengers are required to remove the belts. They seemed to be acting as a robot, rather than someone with comprehension of what it is they are trying to accomplish. I'm a weekly business traveler and have been approved for TSA-precheck which is the greatest thing the TSA has implemented. A week ago I was leaving Las Vegas and I had the benefit of the TSA-precheck lane. I walked through a metal detector (not body scanner) leaving my belt on (this same belt), leaving my shoes on, and leaving my liquids in my suitcase. Yesterday, I'm being asked to remove my belt for no good reason following a body scan. The paradox boggles my mind and makes yesterday's event that much more aggravating. I sent a complaint to the TSA via their website and received an absurd and seemingly generic reply. I would guess a human didn't even read the complaint. The few sentence reply never even addressed my concern....."The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) strongly recommends that passengers remove all items and accessories from their pockets before beginning the security screening process. Removing items such as wallets, belts, bulky jewelry, money, keys, and cell phones may reduce the chances of requiring a passenger to undergo additional screening to resolve an alarm of the Walk-Through Metal Detector (WTMD) or resolve an anomaly discovered during Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) screening....."Thanks for that information....I already knew that. What I wanted to know was why I was required to remove my belt when it didn't interfere with the scan? I sent another complaint via a different avenue. We'll see if a human actually responds with some clarity.

I see in the New York Times that the TSA have decisively addressed the embarrassing reports of racial profiling in Boston. They have solved the problem by ordering BDOs in Boston to attend four hours of special training. They have also ordered "refresher training" for all BDOs around the country.

This response was supposedly at the express direction of Janet Napolitano to John Pistole, which indicates just how devastating this incident is to the TSA's credibility. And it's a brilliant solution. It contains the immediate embarrassment, while carefully shielding all the layers of the DHS and TSA bureaucracy from any responsibility or accountability.

BDOs will bear the entire burden of having to sleep through a few hours of perfunctory platitudes. (Is anyone holding them accountable for actually completing the "training"?) But none of them will suffer any disciplinary action, or accountability for the profiling. The supervisors who ordered the racial profiling will avoid any accountability for requiring it. Their bosses, who demanded the quota of "referrals" to law enforcement for offenses unrelated to aviation security (i.e., false positives), will avoid any accountability for their improper (and desperate?) attempt to justify a program that the GAO found lacking in any scientific basis.

We should all congratulate Secretary Napolitano for her decisive leadership. She has masterfully covered the posteriors of all the layers of her bureaucracy while even more skillfully evading any responsibility or accountability for the systemic management failures that caused this abomination to happen.

Case closed. Problem solved. Until the continued failure to address the TSA's many systemic failings results in the next incident sufficiently embarrassing to require Secretary Napolitano's direct involvement in defensive action.

Why would I want to become a TSO? It would be a huge pay cut and I'm not fond of feeling up innocent strangers who dare try to get on a plane. Plus I like my job where I get to make decisions and not justblindly confiscate liquids because there's a 0.0000000000000001% chance that its explosives and not just a bottle of water.

I see the BDO's are getting a 4 hour training class to not profile in the future. I don't necessarily have an issue with some profiling. Certain people of various ethnicities, ages, genders, etc. are more likely to commit acts of terrorism. The problem I see with the profiling that was going on at Boston, was they they were not profiling for terrorism, but that they were profiling for drugs and arrest warrants. They were doing that to meet quotas for those items. Since they were so focused on finding drugs, it was a distraction to finding real threats to aviation.

The question is, does the TSA look for drugs? The blog says no, but the events in Boston say yes. Why is there a quota system in place in Boston?

I see the BDO's are getting a 4 hour training class to not profile in the future. I don't necessarily have an issue with some profiling. Certain people of various ethnicities, ages, genders, etc. are more likely to commit acts of terrorism. The problem I see with the profiling that was going on at Boston, was they they were not profiling for terrorism, but that they were profiling for drugs and arrest warrants. They were doing that to meet quotas for those items. Since they were so focused on finding drugs, it was a distraction to finding real threats to aviation.

Why would anyone believe that four hours of training would somehow make BDOs "sensitive" to racial discrimination? Didn't they learn that during the Full Week of Training that taught them to spot the telltale signs of terrorism?

And what about the managers who gave the orders to produce a quota of law enforcement referrals for drugs, arrest warrants, immigration status offenses, and other possible crimes unrelated to the aviation security? Do they get any mandatory training on the TSA's mission and the appropriate use of resources? There's no mention of that.

As long as Napolitano and Pistole are not holding them accountable for the inappropriate and inexcusable orders at the root of this fiasco, this so-called "response" is nothing more than a show of contempt for the victims of the profiling as well as everyone who travels by air.

But of course that's exactly what we should expect from an agency that considers itself both incapable of error and above the law, and has made arrogant contempt for the public the cornerstone of its "security strategy."

Add one more item to the list of TSA Epic Fails. I can't wait to see how Bob spins this, assuming he hasn't been directed to ignore it.

Since this is a "week in review", could you tell us what the TSA has done this week to comply with the two court orders that compel the TSA to (1) comply with the law they started violating in 2009 when the TSA put the whole body imagers into use as a primary screening method without holding a public comment period and public hearings, and (2) to explain why, after more than a year, the TSA still hasn't complied with the earlier court order and the law?

Excuse me, he who mislabels things occasionally, but that is _not_ a detonator next to that smooth bodied grenade. That little gadget is technically a "pull igniter". It appears to be an M81 Igniter NSN: 1375-01-415-1235 or 1375-01-442-0939. You might want to look that up in your local copy of IHS Haystack. I assume that you actually have access to such a thing, considering that you use a Gov Issue Dell Computer? Most likely a Dell 745, 755, or 780?

Quoting from a tech manual:"The M81 Igniter is used to ignite a cord that carries a detonation charge or to initiate the shock tube or M700 Time Fuse of MDI (Modern Demolition Initiator) blasting caps. To use, simply bull back the firing pin and the spring tension created forces the pin forward with enough force to set off the primer when the firing pin is released. The primer then ignites the cord, shock tube, or M700 Time Fuse secured in the end of the igniter. (The other end of the cord or the shock tube or the M700 Time Fuse is placed into the item to be detonated.)"

Oh, and if a "pull igniter" is "hollowed out", that means it has been used, has no capability to ignite, is as much a threat to an aircraft as a keychain that also functions as a pill-bottle. You know, like the ones that hold heart pills? Now, if it still had it's pyrotechnic charge, that would be a find.

Why is it that the carpet knife that I found during an inbound security check..from an international destination.I might add,is still rolling around in the desk drawer of the head of safety & security for American Airlines at my station?Why didn't he turn it over to the TSA? We find stuff all the time,but you guys never find out....

This is the posted regulation on taking video or photos at the checkpoint areas, essentially we ask that you not video or take photos of the screens on the xrays, the AIT or the ETDs, and we ask that while taking imagery, you do not interfere with the screening process. As always, different locations may have local laws or regulations that are different than this, and any time you intend to record, we recommend that you contact TSA at Talk To TSA, you can find that contact info here:

This is the posted regulation on taking video or photos at the checkpoint areas, essentially we ask that you not video or take photos of the screens on the xrays, the AIT or the ETDs, and we ask that while taking imagery, you do not interfere with the screening process. As always, different locations may have local laws or regulations that are different than this, and any time you intend to record, we recommend that you contact TSA at Talk To TSA, you can find that contact info here:

https://apps.tsa.dhs.gov/talktotsa/

WestTSA Blog Team

August 23, 2012 4:59 AM............

So why are TSA employees not getting the message?

Are TSA screeners untrainable?

Are TSA trainers unable to train?

Are TSA supervisors and managers unable to manage?

Something is clearly wrong since TSA employees seem to not be getting the message on this matter!

Well, a TSA agent sent a sexual trauma victim to the emergency room... care to explain, TSA!?!?

If the Bob can't officially debunk this report as false, maybe the TSA needs to issue official advice similar to the following:

The TSA has determined that current aviation threat environment necessitates the use of enhanced pat-downs as a routine element of airport security screening. Transportation Security Officers are highly trained to conduct these pat-downs in a courteous, respectful, and professional manner. They are also required to offer the opportunity of conducting the pat-down in a private location, to reduce the potential discomfort of conducting it at the checkpoint.

The pat-down procedure necessarily involves gentle contact with potentially sensitive areas of the body, with the back of the officer's hand. We recognize that some individuals have psychological or other conditions that make them unable to fully cooperate with this screening, or that may create difficulty for them during or after the pat-down. Such individuals are advised to choose an alternate form of transportation.

This would be the ideal way to dispose of all future reports of problems with pat-downs. It avoids addressing a serious problem inherent to the routine use of "intimate" pat-downs. And it puts passengers on notice that if they're victims of sexual abuse and choose to fly, they bear full responsibility for whatever "trauma" the pat-down might cause them.

This would be the ideal way to dispose of all future reports of problems with pat-downs. It avoids addressing a serious problem inherent to the routine use of "intimate" pat-downs. And it puts passengers on notice that if they're victims of sexual abuse and choose to fly, they bear full responsibility for whatever "trauma" the pat-down might cause them.

August 23, 2012 12:40 PM...................Using the word sensitive when you mean with a persons genitals is not properly serving the public. Also while back of the hands are suppose to be used in many videos we see screeners using the front of the hand when going up the leg ending with the crotch grab.

What TSA calls a Resolution Pat Down is done entirely with the front of the hand.

TSA should clearly state exactly how invasive a TSA Pat Down will be. In my opinion there is no reason to conduct a pat down unless reasonable cause can be stated to require a pat down.

We are a free people even though TSA employees are pushing us into a police state.

Why does it seem that the videotaping policy never reaches the screeners at the airport. There are many videos where the screener tells a passenger they can't videotape when they aren't violating any of the TSA's restrictions on videotaping. The policy is simple so why can't it be followed by the screeners?

I don't care what part of the hand is used on the enhanced patdown. There is still contact with the genitals. That seems excessive to get on a plane unless there is serious cause to touch the genital area. Opting out of the body scanner is not sufficient cause in my opinion. I have to opt out due to my insulin pump. My pump manufacturer told me that. I'm more than willing to go through the metal detector and have my pump swabbed for explosives. I feel like I'm being punished for opting out with some of the patdowns I've received.

"I had a similar experience when flying out of Washington, DC, except that I cooperated fully, even when escorted to a small room and had to remove my clothing down to my boxer shorts. I asked, but was not told why until after the ordeal that the TSA must perform this extensive procedure for every X number of passengers. I actually felt heartened by the experience and felt safer on my flights than previously. I was not critical with the officers; I smiled --as I do continuously, anyway-- was polite while being inconvenienced by those doing their jobs to keep us safe. I am 6'2" tall, fair coloring and white hair, and I was wearing a suit, and still detained."

I was wondering, if you are going to the airport to board your own private jet, do you still have to go through the same security as the average/normal passengers? If not, wat are the details I need to know about boarding my own jet at a public/government run airport? Thanks in advance.

Anonymous said... [[Why does it seem that the videotaping policy never reaches the screeners at the airport. There are many videos where the screener tells a passenger they can't videotape when they aren't violating any of the TSA's restrictions on videotaping. The policy is simple so why can't it be followed by the screeners?]]

Laws on video recording or photography in public vary from state to state, just as Wes said. Consult an attorney about the laws of your state or any state you plan on video recording or photography in. Its not the TSA regulations that cause these problems as has been (once again) totally cleared up by a member of the blog staff, but local laws.

Anonymous said... [[TSA Week in Review:

A man made it past TSA at the Baton Rouge airport, locking himself in the cockpit of an American Eagle plane for three hours.

I know, I know...more training]]

Actually Anon, he made it past the gate agent and boarded the aircraft after being told not to. TSA was not involved until after this happened other than initial screening. And since screeners cant screen for mental issues it would hardly be appropriate to blame them now would it.

Clerk Ron, the Port Authority doesn't prohibit recording at checkpoints and TSA policy doesn't prohibit it either. But the clerk at JFK either ignorantly or dishonestly told the passenger that recording was prohibited, and then committed an act of battery to stop him from performing a lawful act.

TSORon said... Anonymous said... [[Why does it seem that the videotaping policy never reaches the screeners at the airport. There are many videos where the screener tells a passenger they can't videotape when they aren't violating any of the TSA's restrictions on videotaping. The policy is simple so why can't it be followed by the screeners?]]

Laws on video recording or photography in public vary from state to state, just as Wes said. Consult an attorney about the laws of your state or any state you plan on video recording or photography in. Its not the TSA regulations that cause these problems as has been (once again) totally cleared up by a member of the blog staff, but local laws.

........................It may not be TSA regulations causing the problem but it surely is poorly trained and poorly managed TSA employees who are in fact causing the problem.

Even if local rules exist about video recording it would not be a TSA clerks job to enforce those regulation.

Explain why TSA can't train its employees well enough to know that there are no TSA regulations prohibiting photography?

"As we've said numerous times here before, TSA does not strip search. Period. Therefor, there is no quota for something we do not practice. "

The TSA apologized for strip searching the senior citizen with a back brace. Manifestly, the TSA does practice strip searches, just as it requires removal of medical appliances.

TSA policy is not the issue here, it's the conduct of TSA screeners. For instance, TSA policy, I assume, prohibits stealing from passengers yet hardly a week goes by without a screener being arrested for theft.

Bob, law enforcement said TSA strip searched the elderly passengers at JFK in that highly publicized incident. So really what you are saying is TSA doesn't call it a strip search but law enforcement does. Gee I wonder what a court of law would call it then? I'd say this is why your agency has such a credibility gap but there are so many examples. There is a legitimate need for airport security but TSA is so obsessed with the trivial and consequently in tests screeners spot the water bottle in the bag every time but not the bomb next to it.

"As we've said numerous times here before, TSA does not strip search. Period. Therefor, there is no quota for something we do not practice."

I highly doubt every single passenger who claims otherwise has been lying about there experience. More likely, it's against TSA policy. However, things that are against policy happen all the time. Or are you calling every single passenger who claims to have been strip searched a liar?

TSORon said...

"Laws on video recording or photography in public vary from state to state, just as Wes said. Consult an attorney about the laws of your state or any state you plan on video recording or photography in. Its not the TSA regulations that cause these problems as has been (once again) totally cleared up by a member of the blog staff, but local laws. "

While some in law enforcement may wish this were true and act as if it were, it's not. Judges have ruled countless times that there is no expectation of privacy in public, therefore photography is allowed. Period. Video recording is another matter though. It may violate some interpretations of local wiretap laws, though it's not directly addressed.

"Actually Anon, he made it past the gate agent and boarded the aircraft after being told not to. TSA was not involved until after this happened other than initial screening. And since screeners cant screen for mental issues it would hardly be appropriate to blame them now would it."

The rest of the TSA would have us believe the BDO program could stop things like this. Unless, well, things like this happen. Then there was no way to see it coming. So, what's the BDO program good for again? Oh yeah. Law enforcement referrals. Certainly not stopping terrorists.

Bob, you have on any number of occasions told us about what TSA policy states. Like no profiling, no strip searches and so on.

The problem is that these things have in fact happened, along with other things I would hope are not call for in TSA policy, such as TSA screeners stealing from travelers, TSA screeners helping to introduce contraband to the air traffic system for just a start.

The question seems to be what is TSA doing to make sure policies are being followed? Why is it that it takes complaints from travelers before TSA seems to be able to figure out what is going on?

Several years ago a poster here suggested a "secret shopper" type program and apparently TSA rejected that idea out of hand.

I think everyone would agree that whom ever made that decision was a bonehead. TSA needs all the help it can get but seems more interested in alienating the public rather than using the public as a tool for TSA improvement.

[[The rest of the TSA would have us believe the BDO program could stop things like this.]]

Actually WM, TSA has said no such thing. It has been inaccurately implied by many of the posters here over and over again, but no TSA representative has said it.

The BDO program Is designed for something far different than the uneducated here (and elsewhere) imply. You can educate yourself on the subject quite easily by going to the link below. That way you will have far more knowledge on the subject than the vast majority of your peers here.

"Actually WM, TSA has said no such thing. It has been inaccurately implied by many of the posters here over and over again, but no TSA representative has said it. "

It's called "snark." But since you brought it up... ;) What, exactly, is a BDO other than a Behavior Detection "Officer?" This title alone has certain implications. It's been at least implied, if not outright claimed, that BDOs can detect any deviation from "normal" behavior in order to stop someone with ill intent. Would someone about to lock themselves in a cockpit not have this deviation in their behavior? The exact thing BDOs are supposed to be looking for.

"The BDO program Is designed for something far different than the uneducated here (and elsewhere) imply."

This could too easily be taken as an insult. But we all know TSORon would never stoop to that ;)

"Actually WM, TSA has said no such thing. It has been inaccurately implied by many of the posters here over and over again, but no TSA representative has said it."

I'd edit my last comment if I could, but I can't. For one, the approval process here is abysmal, so it hasn't even been added yet, but I wanted to add:

From the link: "TSA's BDO-trained security officers are screening travelers for involuntary physical and physiological reactions that people exhibit in response to a fear of being discovered."

Ummm... TSA is saying EXACTLY what I claimed they were saying. I said the TSA would have us believe that BDOs could detect someone's bad intent and stop them from, oh, say, locking themselves into a cockpit for 3 hours. The snarky part of my comment was that I was implying that the BDOs could observe every single passenger, so why wasn't this guy caught? I know the that's not possible. It is, however, still a security failure. TSA is in charge of airport security, is it not?

"The smartest or wisest person cannot predict the actions of an insane individual. Once again you are implying a task that BDO's, nor anyone else, can do."

I imply nothing that isn't implied by the TSA. But, to be clear, if a terrorist were also insane, the BDO program would not catch him. Though as a trained psychologist, I'm sure you're aware that insanity manifests itself in many ways, some of which are, indeed, detectable. Oh. You're not a trained psychologist??? I see.